230/10 (85.5)
CR : 2.68
386/10 (133.5)
CR : 2.88
Sri Lanka won by 187 runs
Player of the Match
Dimuth Karunaratne
147(300) & 83(104)
78.4
0
L Embuldeniya to S Gabriel
Presses forward and defends it in front of the silly point fielder..
78.5
0
L Embuldeniya to S Gabriel
Low full toss on the stumps, Gabriel strides forward and defends it to the silly point.
78.6
W
L Embuldeniya to S Gabriel
OUTTT!! That's a wrap from the Sri Lankas as they scalp the tail ender to win the game by a mammoth 187 runs. Sharp turn from a good length on the middle. Gabriel rocks back to defend across the wrong line as the ball takes a thick edge straight into the bucket hands of first slip. And with that Sri Lanka lead the two-match Test series, 1-0
S Gabriel 0(6)
c Silva b L Embuldeniya
4s/6s
0/0
SR
0.00
That's the end of the match and Sri Lanka have taken a 1-0 lead in the series. A comprehensive 187 run victory and coach Mickey Arthur will be really pleased with how his boys have performed in this Test match. A disappointing game for the visitors who were outplayed throughout the five day's play.
It all started with Dimuth Karunaratne's sublime 147 in the first innings. The Sri Lankan skipper set the tone for the rest of the match and his boys never looked back. The home side posted 386 in the first innings and that was a mountain to climb for the West Indies batters.
The Sri Lankan spinners were too hot to handle and the Windies were bundled out for just 230 in their first innings. Jayawickrama and Mendis were the chief destroyers with the ball in hand, scalping 4 and 3 wickets respectively.
Sri Lanka came out with a positive intent in their second innings and posted a challenging 347 for the West Indies batters to get. Day 4 pitch in Galle and a fired up Sri Lankan spin attack proved too much for the visitors who crumbled under pressure and never recovered from the early jolt. At one stage, they were tottering at 18 for 6 and were in danger of getting dismissed for well below 50.
But the duo of Joshua Da Silva and Nkrumah Bonner had some other plans. They frustrated the Sri Lankan bowlers and took the game to the final day. It was cricket of the highest quality from the two batters who batted beautifully and notched up their respective fifties to provide a glimmer of hope to their side. But once Da Silva departed for a well compiled 54, it was all, but over for the team from Caribbean. In the end, the Sri Lankan spinners were at their absolute best and West Indies had no chance whatsoever to win this contest.
The trio of Embuldeniya, Mendis and Jayawickrama proved to be the difference maker as they racked up all 20 wickets between them and ran the show right from the word go. West Indies batters have a lot of work to do, especially their top-5.
It all started with Dimuth Karunaratne's sublime 147 in the first innings. The Sri Lankan skipper set the tone for the rest of the match and his boys never looked back. The home side posted 386 in the first innings and that was a mountain to climb for the West Indies batters.
The Sri Lankan spinners were too hot to handle and the Windies were bundled out for just 230 in their first innings. Jayawickrama and Mendis were the chief destroyers with the ball in hand, scalping 4 and 3 wickets respectively.
Sri Lanka came out with a positive intent in their second innings and posted a challenging 347 for the West Indies batters to get. Day 4 pitch in Galle and a fired up Sri Lankan spin attack proved too much for the visitors who crumbled under pressure and never recovered from the early jolt. At one stage, they were tottering at 18 for 6 and were in danger of getting dismissed for well below 50.
But the duo of Joshua Da Silva and Nkrumah Bonner had some other plans. They frustrated the Sri Lankan bowlers and took the game to the final day. It was cricket of the highest quality from the two batters who batted beautifully and notched up their respective fifties to provide a glimmer of hope to their side. But once Da Silva departed for a well compiled 54, it was all, but over for the team from Caribbean. In the end, the Sri Lankan spinners were at their absolute best and West Indies had no chance whatsoever to win this contest.
The trio of Embuldeniya, Mendis and Jayawickrama proved to be the difference maker as they racked up all 20 wickets between them and ran the show right from the word go. West Indies batters have a lot of work to do, especially their top-5.
SL won by 187 runs
Presentation ceremony coming up soon... It's being held indoors. Because it started raining heavily moments after the final wicket fell.
Kraig Brathwaite: "The lower order played really well, especially Joshua and Bonner. It was important for us to get closer to their total, but we failed. All the fast bowlers put in a great effort, spinners were decent for us. We saw how their spinners bowled on this track. It is important to have some clarity. We must learn from both of them on how to play on this track ( Da Silva and Bonner). If you gotta defend, gotta defend very confidently."
Dimuth Karunaratne | Player of the Match: "It's a good game and the boys are doing really well. I am playing after a long time and didn't even play any club cricket recently. I think the youngsters in the team are gaining experience from the senior guys. The fast bowlers didn't get many overs, but they did their job. The last couple of months saw heavy rain, so we were unsure about how the wicket will behave. We will assess the conditions for the next Test before deciding on the team selection."
That's it for the coverage of this Test match. Hope you enjoyed our coverage. Do join us for the second Test match, starting on Monday. Till the next time, it's a ta-ta and a goodbye from me, Anurag Dasgupta and my co-commentators, Anurag Singh and Tushar Garg.